Prestone was dieing their anti-freeze yellow a few years back. Hopefully its NOT Prestone's "All Makes, All Models, Mixes with all Colors" Antifreeze, I think that might be yellow, if it was, that might explain why its cloudy, and its good you got it out of the system.
Perhaps the previous owner retro-fitted to G-05, which is probably good. Something we may all have to do, read below.
X2 on the Distilled Water. Tap Water has a lot of minerals in it, and those minerals come out of solution from the heat and form scale that coats the cooling system and can clog the radiator. If your anti-freeze corrosion inhibitor package gets depleted (within 2 years) the minerals can react with the depleted additives and make even more and worse scale.
Stallacrew said:
Get a gallon of water and a gallon of coolant from walmarket. It'll only cost like 87 cents more than the coolant.....
Be careful, at least in my area (Southern Maryland), Walmart and a lot of the auto stores don't sell the conventional old green anti-freeze. Instead they sell "All Makes & All Color" Anti-Freeze, which is NOT conventional old green anti-freeze its Dex-Cool or one of the OAT derivatives just dyed green. In bold letters on the front of the bottle it says its compatible with all anti-freezes, but turn the bottle around and read the fine print on the back, it will tell you its compatible, provided you completely drain the system and flush it with fresh water until all traces of your old anti-freeze is gone.
Considering the disaster Dex-Cool has been, especially when mixed with old green anti-freeze and how it doesn't protect metals like lead, solder and brass that is often in older cooling systems, as well, softens some types of seals and plastics, this highly irresponsible by many manufacturers that seem to be trying to fool you into buying dex-cool dyed green, when you think your getting the original green formula anti-freeze .
I tried to order Zerex Conventional Green Anti-freeze and have it delivered, but it was too expensive with shipping. I was on my way to buy G-05 to retro-fit in the Jeep, when I found that my local Auto-Zone just started carrying Peak original green formula anti-freeze (it has phosphate and silicates listed in the ingredients and NO 2-EHA).
Read the ingredients on the bottle, if there is Phosphates and Silicates in the ingredients, then its old conventional green anti-freeze. If there is NO Phosphates and Silicates, and it contains
2-Ethylhexanoic Acid or
2-EHA then its Dex-Cool. Put the bottle down and walk away.
Dex-Cool is bad, many of the Japanese and some of the European makes have a version of OAT Anti-Freeze that doesn't use 2-EHA, which isn't bad, but
if you have to retro-fit to one of the newer anti-freezes, then G-05 is your best choice.
G-05 is Hybrid OAT or HOAT. It does NOT have the 2-EHA, and contains a lot of the inhibitors that the original green has in it, like silicates. This is what Chrysler and Ford has switched over too and they have been using in Mercedes and other European vehicles for years. Unlike Dex-Cool, it mixes with the old green (although its NOT recommended in large amounts, but just a little left over after draining your system and flushing it with fresh water would be perfectly fine). If you mix it, make sure to use the shorter change cycle of the other anti-freeze, those additives could form solids that hurt the system if you take it out too the 5 years of the G-05.
Never mix the Dex-Cool with other anti-freezes, even small amounts. Its additives chemically react with that of the other anti-freezes and can form solids hurting your water pump.
Notice the "All Makes, All Models, Mixes with any color anti-freeze", BS! Don't buy this crap if you can't find original green anti-freeze that lists Phosphates and Silicates in the ingredients, then convert to G-05.
